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Need care info...

I bought a venus flytrap at big lots and I don't want to kill it. So help me out with a little care info here my last plant was killed by my pet rats LOL. It is in a small pot what size should it be in and should it be inside or outside, any other tips will be appriciated. Well I must go to bed now have work tomorrw and my insomnia is realy getting to me....

cant remember where long beach is off the top of my head...but you should be able to grow it outside year round! (someone please correct me if im wrong) here are a couple of main rules:
no tap water!(unless it has under 100 ppm[thats parts per million] of dissolved salts) distilled, rain, or RO water is best.
full sun. VFTs(as we call them...its shorter ) love the sun! but if your plant looks REALLY green, elongated leaves, no red pigmentation, and weak or floppy growth. then acclimate them slowly to full sun.
no nutrient soil. peat moss and long fibered sphagnum moss(also called orchid moss) is best for them.
respect dormancy. in winter it should die down, not grow at all. during that time it needs to be chilly with a decrease in photoperiod(the amount of time it gets light)

good luck! and welcome to the addiction!
Alex

Everything is explainable. The seemingly unexplainable is but a result of our insufficient knowledge.- Hans Brewer

You're just down the coast a few mile from me. VFT's grow beautifully outdoors in sunny Southern California. You should "harden" the plant off first. Keep it in the tube or dome it came in under lights and slowly open the cover over a period of a couple weeks, allowing the humidity to drop slowly over time. Place the pot in a deep dish, tray, small bowl or a clean yogurt or small cottage cheese container for water. Then move it to a sunny windowsill - south facing or east facing to begin with. After another couple of weeks put it outside.

The biggest problem I have had is over watering. You never want the plant to dry out but over watering can lead to mold and rot.

You should "harden" the plant off first. Keep it in the tube or dome it came in under lights and slowly open the cover over a period of a couple weeks, allowing the humidity to drop slowly over time. Place the pot in a deep dish, tray, small bowl or a clean yogurt or small cottage cheese container for water. Then move it to a sunny windowsill - south facing or east facing to begin with. After another couple of weeks put it outside.

I wouldn't bother with all that. I have never "hardened" a VFT before putting it outside, even in full summer heat. Just put it in a tray of water and place it in a sunny spot outside. It will be fine.

I wouldn't bother with all that. I have never "hardened" a VFT before putting it outside, even in full summer heat. Just put it in a tray of water and place it in a sunny spot outside. It will be fine.

I look at it on an individual basis. It depends on the plant(s) in question. I wouldn't dream of taking Tissue Cultured plants straight from the flask to a pot outdoors. A few months ago I got a 'B52' and 'Justina Davis' from a TC source with specific instructions to harden them off. I just got another 'B52' and 'Sawtooth' from the same source and these could go outdoors immediately. I also picked up a 'Jaws' this weekend. Since the grower propagates his plants from leaf/root cuttings/pullings and grows them locally in a greeenhouse or outdoors that plant went immediately outdoors.

My 'Justina Davis' recently hardened off as per instructions went to the windowsill prior to going outdoors. Side-by-side with the 'B52' it badly sunburned where as the 'B52' is thriving. Imagine if I had put the 'Justina Davis' straight outdoors without the glass to cut some of the UV and infra-red light. I moved that to a window that gets half as much light for now.

Warehouse wonders as I call the plants you buy at garden/hardware centers or overstock stores I tend to eye with suspicion and err towards the side of over-caution. Odds are they are propagated from Tissue Culture so they've spent most of their lives in conditions more akin to a laboratory than outdoors. Plus they are highly stressed in the little tubes/cubes/domes/plastic bags they are sold in: 100% humidity to bone dry, questionable potting media, bad lighting, rapid changes of temperature extremes, jostling in the back of a truck and handling by indifferent storeworkers and curious shoppers, improper water, etc.

It's mainly a matter of personal choice. What works for you may not work for someone else. There are no guaranteed successful methods in plant cultivation. There are a few things that are guaranteed failures however. If something doesn't work for you, try something else. If something works for you, continue to do so again until it fails - then try to figure out why it failed.

You’re right. Different methods work for different people and different plants. The first Akai Ryu I bought was grown in a green house. I put it directly outside and it had absolutely no problems. A couple of months ago, I purchased another Akai Ryu, but this one was fresh out of TC. I decided not to harden it off before placing it in full sun and it slowed down in growth. Eventually, all the traps and leaves died off quite rapidly. Luckily, it is now slowly recovering.

Also, I put the VFTs that I got from Lowe’s recently (remember my Lowe’s VFT bonus topic?) directly outside after I potted them. These have experienced some shock, but no where near as much as the TC’ed Red Dragon. I am seeing new growth appear every couple of days, which is a good sign. Once you get yourself established in the hobby, it’s good to do some experiments with the VFT’s from Lowe’s, Wal-Mart, etc. You never know what results will come up…